Winter's Fury
by ice shredder
Summary: Gray knelt in the bloody snow. Dazed. Numb. Alive. And Juvia wasn't breathing- [SPOILERS for #499] Enjoy!


**Title: Winter's Fury**

 **Fandom: Fairy Tail**

 **Author: ice shredder**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing**

 **Warnings/Spoilers: MAJOR ONES for chapter 499 including Juvia's death. Gray's thoughts right before he gets up to fight Invel. Let there be angst!**

 **Summary: Gray knelt in the bloody snow. Dazed. Numb. Alive. And Juvia wasn't breathing. 'This can't be happening.'**

.

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 _This can't be happening._

Gray knelt in the bloody snow dazed, clutching Juvia's lifeless body in a death grip. Felt her essence course through his veins as she fufilled her wish of living inside him forever. Her soft voice replayed in his head, her final words filled with the purest love for him, flowing like the element he had come to love just as much as his own. Ice was merely the hardened form of water, after all.

 _"Juvia's life will forever and always belong only to you, Gray-sama."_

And she proved it by giving him everything with that blood transfusion spell- _God, when did she have time to perfect that anyway...wasn't that forbidden or something...?_ -so he could continue the fight in her stead.

He was numb.

Alive.

And Juvia wasn't breathing.

It was wrong. He had everything planned out. Win the war. Save Fairy Tail and the rest of Fiore. Defeat E.N.D.

Give Juvia the answer she deserved.

Get married. Have kids. Live happily ever after.

The end.

But fate had always been unkind to him and he was left holding the latest casualty in a string of death and bad luck.

What had he done to deserve this? With Juvia lying dead in his shaking arms, Gray became more convinced his existence was cursed. Was this the way life was going to go for him? Never to know rest, nor peace, nor love? What was the point of carrying on when everyone he even _remotely_ grew attached to when he attempted to care about them was cruelly snatched out of his hands?

Tears flowed nonstop from the ice mage's wide, horror-filled eyes.

Just like _rain-_

A keening howl struggled to break free from his healing insides.

But he didn't give it permission to vocalize.

Begging didn't revive the dead.

Neither would screaming.

He tried both.

 _This wasn't happening._

Why did he fool himself into thinking he had all the time in the world?

Why didn't he just tell her how he felt on that balcony? Instead he handed the blunette a _candy_ bar- _a stupid piece of_ _ **chocolate**_ _-_ instead of taking the far riskier chance of kissing her petal lips. Instead of retreating behind a wall of caution, he should've swept her into his arms, carried the water mage to the nearest room and made sweet, passionate love while he watched her face flush redder than Erza's hair as she gazed up at him with soft dark blue eyes. Entrusting herself both body and soul to his tempered strength and tender caresses.

She deserved it.

 _He_ at least earned that much, after everything he'd been through in his short life.

Apparently not.

Time lost all meaning as he cradled Juvia's bruised blood-soaked corpse to his chest under a raw winter sky, the air bitter cold. Biting his lip till he knew it would leave a bruise. As an ice make mage, this was his natural environment. He should feel at home.

But she was gone.

 _This can't be happening._

He bent his black head to her chest right over her heart, as if hoping to find the slightest pulse that would reassure him there was a shred of hope left in his bleak existence.

Seconds ticked by.

Nothing.

Not a flutter of a pulse greeted his ears.

And that's when it really started to sink in. _She's really gone. I-I'll never get to show her how much I loved her._

Sobs shook his muscular frame. He needed her quirks and crazy temper and her theatrical declarations of love and admiration. Needed her gentle touch, her soft voice, her light that kept the lonliness at bay.

He recalled all the jobs they did together. The house they shared for 6 months. The promise of finally letting go of the past to invite Juvia inside his heart completely.

But Invel...that evil bastard...and his damned Ice Lock had ruthlessly smothered the tiny sapling of hope that started to take root under Juvia's care. The hope that he could have a future without the baggage of his tragic past weighing him down. That he could start fresh and taste happiness without feeling guilty.

 _Invel._

Suddenly, Gray stopped shaking. A cold rage unlike anything he ever known before gripped his heart and spread throughout his body, overflowing the thin membrane of his mortal flesh. It was freezing and _burning_ at the same time.

 _Kill him._

 _Kill Invel._

Gray slowly rose to his feet, cradling Juvia to his chest. Impervious to the elements he found a house half-buried in the snow and gently lowered his dead lover to the ground, crossing her hands over the bloody hole in her chest. Placing a tender kiss on her pale lips the ice mage brushed her marred face with a gentle finger one last time before retracing his steps. He sealed the area over with the thickest ice he possessed, unwilling to leave Juvia exposed to any enemies in the area. Besides, he would be coming back to bury her properly after brutally murdering the Winter General.

 _He took what was mine._

Tendrils of icy water sprouted from his body as an enraged Gray caught up to a shocked Invel as he was searching for Brandish. The look of pure terror on the man's face was lost on the ice mage as he prepared to unleash winter in all of it's terrible fury.

His boots crunched over the snow in an implacable cadence. Death danced in his eyes as Gray advanced on the monster who'd savagely ripped the water maiden from his grasp. The beautiful nymph who'd been his saving grace and the light in his dark, turbulent world now a battered, bleeding stiff in the shelter of his ice back in a ruined husk of a building. Waiting patiently for him to return and lay her to rest.

Violent thoughts swirled like a blizzard inside his mind, fueling his devil slayer rage:

 _You chained me to my beloved with your cruel ice._

 _Forced me to fight her to the death._

 _Your damn magic compelled Juvia to hurt me. DON'T YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH SHE HATED THAT?!_

 _ **YOU MADE THE ONE WOMAN I WILL EVER LOVE IN THIS LIFE KILL HERSELF BECAUSE SHE DIDN'T WANT TO HURT**_ _ **ME**_ _ **ANY FURTHER!**_

 _You killed my soul mate, asshole._

 _You made her **HARM** me...WITH THE INTENT TO KILL. SHE WILL **NEVER** FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS. AND NEITHER WILL I._

 _Prepare yourself._

 _I will show you what the true nature of winter's wrath looks like, you evil son of a bitch._

Power surged and bubbled under his skin.

Begging for release.

In a few seconds, Invel Yura would regret the day he was born.

Gray kept walking, ignoring the icy scar that had formed with Juvia's emergency transfusion magic.

 _This is for you, my love. I won't lose._

 _Not with your blood flowing through my veins._

 **-end**

 **A/N: Ok guys, here's my 2 cents on this chapter. I personally think-and this is my PERSONAL opinion so don't hate in the reviews guys-Hiro should let Juvia stay dead for several reasons. One, it would cheapen the emotional impact by bringing her back. Two, it would serve as a stark lesson for Gray taking Juvia for granted and all the unsaid words and actions not taken. Gray's got no excuses. He had plenty of time LONG before this happened to tell her how he felt. Even his friends pushed him to act on his feelings many times. But he chose to let it slip through his fingers and now he's paying the price for waiting too long. Three, it's war. People die. Not everyone is gonna get a happy ending.**

 **Enjoy, and as always, don't forget to review! :)**


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